Say Everything
by Hobie
Summary: Skuld and Sentaro's relationship is put to the ultimate test. Just in time for Valentine's Day
1. How do you tell the one you love goodbye

Skuld waited patiently in the reception area of Sessrumnir, the great hall that housed many goddess agencies and bureaus. Gold and amber seemed to be in every facet of décor from the rich tapestries, to the chairs, to the carpeting. The teenage goddess felt a certain unease, a dread about the recall to heaven. Somehow, she knew it had to do with her Earth Training Program. That her main teachers, Belldandy and Urd weren't contacted spoke volumes. She nervously adjusted her white gloves, part of the pink formal goddess attire she was wearing for the occasion.  
  
"Freya_sama will see you now," informed Ere, the pretty receptionist.  
  
Skuld took a deep breath then made her way into the executive office of Lady Freya, one of Heaven's Top Administrators, Council Member, and noted Efficiency Expert. The latter did audits on such notable businesses such as the Goddess Relief Office and the Earth Assistance Center. Moreover, she oversaw training and qualification as well as being Commander in Chief of half of Heaven's Valkyrie Division.  
  
"Skuld dear," a warm smile crossed the flawless features of Freya, a mesmerizing goddess with long golden blonde hair. The front had been braided, while the rest hung down her back. She possessed piecing blue eyes, halfmoon markings, and alabaster skin. Her figure was displayed prominently in a white pinstriped business suit/miniskirt combo. "It's been a long time. Please sit down."  
  
"Thank you, milady," the young goddess took a seat before Freya's large desk. A casefile with Skuld's name on it lay on the top, then was opened by the senior goddess.  
  
"It would seem you've learned a great deal these past four years on Earth," she noted.  
  
"Sis is a very good mentor," the future deity spoke of Belldandy. "I've grown in my powers thanks to her and even got my angel back!"  
  
"Your sister always speaks highly of you in her reports," Freya continued. "It was a shame to lose her services."  
  
"She's happy with Keiichi," the black haired mecha creator agreed,  
  
"Tell me, where do you want to work when you are granted a first class license?"  
  
Skuld's eyebrows arched at the question. "At a job where I can make the best use of my talents."  
  
"Do you aspire to Urd's former job?" she asked directly.  
  
The other knew deep down that she was just as capable as anyone else of being the System Operator. She also knew that taking the position would not let her to be able to stay on Earth anymore. A long silence filled the room. Freya's gaze remained fixated on the young goddess who shifted uncomfortably. Anywhere, even Muspelhiem seemed like a better place to be than here at the moment.  
  
"Please tell me your career goals, Skuld."  
  
"Honestly I haven't made up my mind yet. Perhaps a consultant to the debugging department.I was thinking of attending college on Earth."  
  
"College?" laughed Freya. "There's nothing they can teach you that we don't already know."  
  
"Being on Earth had been great," Skuld continued. She thought about ice cream and rescuing Sigel from the scrap heap, and all the misadventures with her sisters and Keiichi. Most importantly, she thought about Sentaro.  
  
"Skuld, I called you here to gauge your interests. You can follow in Urd or Belldandy's footsteps or even choose a new path. You can be an engineer, get into design, run the Command Center, or grant wishes. My brother has a prestigious opening in Alfheim. The job is yours for the taking."  
  
"I'd like to stay with sis on Earth until I complete my training," Skuld admitted. "And go to college."  
  
"First, your training on Earth is nearing completion. In fact, I could sign you off right now. Second, college? Why are you so insistent?" The elder shuffled through some more papers in the file.  
  
"To be with Sentaro," she replied softly, her cheeks flushing as she spoke his name aloud. Freya could sense the palpable affection in the prodigy's voice.  
  
"A romance?" With a human boy?" she probed, a gleam in her eye.  
  
"We're friends," the other began.  
  
"Don't try and hide it. You aspire to a great romance like your sister, right?"  
  
Skuld avoided the other's eyes. "I guess so."  
  
"That, my dear, will not do. You have too bright a future ahead of you to let a relationship with a mortal affect your career," she said, as if giving a lecture.  
  
"But.Belldandy."  
  
"Skuld," Freya leaned forward. "We goddesses don't interdisperse with humans on a regular basis, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. Your sister's case is unique." "I haven't told him that I'm a goddess," Skuld remarked. She didn't like where this conversation was leading.  
  
"And if you persist on a relationship and it blossoms into romance? You cannot hide that fact. I see you already used your powers on one occasion to save him from harm."  
  
"Milady, I don't think it is wrong to have feelings for a human."  
  
"No it is not. But continued exposure will get in the way of your advancement. Moreover, the human has not proved worthy of knowing your true nature," she said matter of factly.  
  
Skuld could not believe she was hearing such things. "I can't just tell him to stop seeing me. He'll come to the temple like he always does."  
  
"You should never have gotten this close while you were on Earth," Freya stated with a sigh. "There are consequences. Your sisters were wrong in allowing this to happen."  
  
"Milady, please."  
  
The elder goddess took a document from the bottom of the folder. She presented it to the younger, who took it in silence. Tears formed in her eyes.  
  
Hours later, the Goddess of the Future rematerialized in the bathtub at the Morisato residence. She somberly made her way into Belldandy's Tea Room.  
  
"How did everything go?" the peanut butter haired middle sister asked.  
  
"Belldandy," Skuld rushed to her favorite sibling and buried her face into her sister's chest.  
  
"Oh Skuld, what happened?"  
  
"Freya_sama's doing the same thing they did to you once."  
  
Belldandy knew instantly. As a young goddess, she had met Keiichi when he was very little. Those times ended in sorrow, the latter had all early memories of her expunged. Skuld handed her the document. "Cease and Desist" had been written at the top. It went on to say further contact with Sentaro was disallowed and that she had a week to make a decision on where she wanted to work next or face having it chosen for her."  
  
"I can't believe this," Belldandy exclaimed. "Part of Earth Training brings you into contact with its inhabitants "Falling in love should not be wrong!"  
  
"I have to stop seeing him," she cried. "Or they'll erase his memories of me altogether."  
  
"I'm so sorry, Skuld," the middle sister hugged the younger.  
  
Neither stopped crying until hours later.  
  
Urd overheard Skuld and Belldandy's conversation. As much as she and the brat bickered all the time, she genuinely cared for her as any older sister would. She too had become fond of Sentaro and wanted the best for them as she did for Belldandy and Keiichi. An immediate phone call was placed to Heaven. And the Goddess of the Past's protests fell on deaf ears. She was resigned to hang up after hearing the last sentence, "The alternative is the Judgement Gate."  
  
Skuld rode her bike down to the river, a favorite hangout of theirs. Sentaro waited for her, sitting relaxedly on a big blue blanket. He wore board shorts and a New York Yankees Hideki Matsui jersey.  
  
"Hey Sentaro," she spoke quietly as she parked the bike against a nearby tree.  
  
"Hey you," he grinned. "I got us some good grub here. Yatikori, cucumber salad, pork bread, and yes, mint chocolate chip ice cream!"  
  
She took a seat beside him on the blanket. He admired her simple pink sundress. It seemed she never wore the same thing twice. Setting a plate in front of her, he handed over a pair of chopsticks.  
  
"We need to talk," she started, unsure of how to start, although having spent the last several hours rehearsing something. She had cried a lot doing it, and bit her lip to keep that from happening right then and there.  
  
"Alright! What's on your mind," he asked warmly, handing her a chilled Coke bottle.  
  
Her heart felt as though it was about to break. She tried to stay calm and bit her lip again. "We've been more than friends for a while now, right?"  
  
"Right," he replied, heart starting to beat faster. Was she going to ask him to take their relationship even further?  
  
"I'll always treasure that," she continued, avoiding his gaze. "But there comes a time when you have to move on."  
  
"You're going back to your country?" he asked, remembering she was a foreigner.  
  
"No, not yet," she answered. "But I'm going to be a lot busier."  
  
"Okay, me too with entrance exams coming up," he agreed.  
  
Skuld looked down. "I don't think I'll be able to see you anymore."  
  
Her declaration stunned him.  
  
"Why not, Skuld? I'll still make time for us to do things," he choked, wondering if this was some prank on her part.  
  
"I won't be able to see you at all anymore," she repeated. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Why not?" he looked at her confused and hurt.  
  
She touched his shoulder. "I just can't. Please don't make this harder,:  
  
"Is it your sisters or your parents?" he asked frantically. "Did I do something wrong?"  
  
"No Sentaro," she replied. "It's not about you."  
  
"Some other guy? Are you going out with some other guy?" he pressed.  
  
"No," she told him. "I can't tell you why. I just need some time to myself. Please understand."  
  
"I don't understand, Skuld," he looked right at her with tear filled eyes and grabbed both her shoulders.  
  
"I have to go," she said, standing up to leave. Tears began to run down her cheeks.  
  
"Please don't," he whispered, at a loss on what to do.  
  
She paused only a moment, Freya's words echoing in her head. They could erase his memories any moment if she fessed up.  
  
Skuld quickly mounted her bike and pedaled away, Sentaro staring after her in disbelief. 


	2. Seven Seas, a Babyface songfic

_Sitting by the window_  
_day thinking of you_  
_watching the days go by, I started to cry_

Skuld threw herself on her futon, sobbing uncontrollably. She cried into her pillow until she was physically spent. During that time, she didn't hear the soft sliding of the door opening. Urd sat quietly in a beanbag chair, holding a small cordial on her hand.

"Ahem."

Skuld saw her then faced the wall, ashamed. "I'm not going to drink that," she sniffed. "I don't want to forget about him."

"It will ease your pain," Urd spoke soothingly. "It did for Bell once."

"I hate her," the black haired goddess spoke of Freya. "I'll hate her forever for this!"

But they weren't tears of sadness  
They only meant I love you  
And I wanna tell you girl that I, oh, I

Sentaro sat in his bedroom, wondering why everything in his world had suddenly fallen apart. Skuld meant all to him, and now it seemed she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. His older brother had once told him about girls, that they'd come and go. But he also spoke of the first time you fell in love, that it remained special.

The young bike enthusiast leafed through a scrapbook filled with pictures, mostly of her and him. One shot showed her in a summer kimono, arms wrapped around him in a playful headlock.

_I'll travel 'round the seven seas for you  
It's written in the melody I adore you  
I wrote my love a symphony  
To show you there's nothing I won't do  
Baby I'll walk around the China wall for you  
If there's a way I'll do it all for you  
Anything you want me to, you know I would do_

Later that night Skuld sat at her computer, running through the Yggdrasil help wanted ads. Maybe going to live among dwarves seemed like a good choice. They were skilled at crafting the best weapons and gadgets. She needed to immerse herself in something that would take away the pain of leaving him.

She also thought about becoming a teacher at Goddess School, mainly to stress to others about not falling in love with human boys.

Sigel entered the room, carrying a carton of ice cream. She noticed how sad her creator looked and it saddened her too.

"Are you going to be okay, mistress?" the android asked.

Skuld forced a smile. "Sure thing, Robo! I just had something in my eye."

"I got you some cherry vanilla," she handed the pint to the goddess.

"You can put it in the freezer," the other told her. "I'm not hungry right now."

_People think I'm crazy, they say  
I'm just a nothing  
Letting my life pass me by  
Believing you're with me_

For three days, he stayed away trying to do things to take his mind off of her. He tried to read instruction manuals, watch plenty of action films, or hang out with an assortment of his male friends. The more he tried not to think about her, the more he did. Everything he encountered reminded him of her. Things he saw, he wanted her to see or have her opinion on.

The following day, he decided to stop by Whirlwind and talk to Keiichi. Belldandy greeted him at the door.

"Hello Sentaro," she said softly, able to sense his sadness and it pained her.

"Hello ma'am. I was wondering if I could talk to Keiichi."

"He's in the other room," she gestured and smiled.

"Thanks," he brushed past her.

Belldandy didn't blame him. It was probably easier for him to talk to a man than a woman. Plus, maybe Sentaro blamed her for what happened.

_  
_"What's up, Sentaro?" Keiichi asked the younger boy as he worked on a customer's bike.

The latter shrugged his shoulders. "I just wanted to know how Skuld is."

The former knew all about the fiasco. He shuddered to recall knowing that heaven had once wiped clean his childhood memories of Belldandy. He also resolved to help Sentaro any way he could without revealing Skuld's divine nature.

"It's complicated," he began. "You know how girls are sometimes."

"I don't understand. She and I used to talk about everything."

"Would you want to forget about her and move on or try and win her back?"

"I just want to figure out what I did wrong."

"You did nothing wrong," Keiichi informed him. "But there are forces at work which will try and come between you."

"That she is a foreigner?" wondered the Kawanishi boy.

"Maybe. And other things as well."

He frowned. "Can't you be more specific?"

"Not really. All I can say is that if you love her, fight for it. I know I'd fight for Belldandy to my dying breath."

"Profess my love and all will be well?" he scratched his head.

"No," Keiichi told him. "But it's a start."

_Well I can't speak for no one  
But in my heart I know you love me  
And that's why I'll always tell you I  
Oh I, Oh I, Oh I_

Lyrics by Babyface. Prose by hobie


	3. Never Say Goodbye

Sentaro never got the chance to say goodbye to Skuld. She left via a gateway in the middle of the night, unbeknownst to anyone who lived around the temple. When he showed up the next day after school, Banpei and Sigel sat dejectedly on the front porch, their expressions making his heart sink.

"Is Skuld here?" he asked, voice cracking.

"She is not," Sigel replied. "She's gone away."

"Away? Back to her country?" the youth gasped.

The little android nodded sadly.

Urd came to the door, and slid it open.

"Why did Skuld leave?" he asked.

"She had to, Sentaro," the eldest Norn replied. "She had little choice in the matter."

"I don't understand!" he exclaimed in frustration.

"Kiddo, nothing disappointed her more than having to leave. She'll be back one day," Urd tried to console the teen.

Sentaro felt he was out of options. Perhaps Skuld never really wanted to see him ever again. He could try and call or write, for fear of being rejected by her again. He had come today to try and get closure. Having to wait with no time table for her return would be torturous.

"I love your sister," he whispered as he turned away from Urd. "If you speak to her, please let her know that."

And with that, the biker left quietly, determined to never forget the happy memories he had attained and to have faith they would share new ones later on.


	4. Folkvang

A billowing fog rolled through the plains of Folkvang, the idyllic fields where Freya resided in her great tower called **Sessrúmnir. Inside the control room, a young goddess, Ere, studied her alarm station. Such a job was a cushy one, after all, Heaven was the safest place in the Universe. Yet her divine face showed intense concern.**

"**We have an unauthorized intruder two thousand meters in the main courtyard," she relayed to Thrud, the ranking Valkyrie on duty.**

"**Pinpoint it's dimension of origin," requested the daughter of Thor.**

"**Earth," came the astonished response.**

**Three angelic principalities were dispatched to take care of the problem. When they didn't communicate back, Thrud knew there was something wrong.**

"**Get a visual on that location," she demanded. "Let us see what we are up against."**

**The image of a teenage boy, dressed in a black, school uniform filled their monitors. He held aloft a large boombox, arms raised over his head, blaring an 80's tune by Peter Gabriel. "In Your Eyes" drowned out the normal love songs that played constantly in the fields of Folkvang. Somehow, someway, Sentaro Kawanishi, now aged 17 had found a way to locate Skuld.**

**The youngest Norn was in the great hall, feasting with the slain heroes as well as her friend Mist, another Valkyrie in training. She was scheduled for a Universal tour of duty which would take her to countless planets, even other dimensions. Basic training and tactical courses had been completed already.**

"**There's something going on outside!' exclaimed somebody, pointing to an open window.**

**Skuld stood up from her table, then cautiously walked over to where others were already looking. Her jaw dropped when she beheld the last person she expected to meet in Heaven. Her Sentaro.**

**He stood triumphantly in the courtyard below, ridiculously recreating a scene from the Earth movie, "Say Anything", a flick Urd and the two of them had watched many years ago.**

_**In your eyes, the light the heat, I am complete, I see the doorways to a thousand churches….**_

**Her eyes met his and the latter's hadn't changed. They still beheld her with warmth and affection. He himself had changed a lot, looking older, more mature, and very handsome.**

"**Sentaro," she mouthed, at a loss for words.**

**Freya bounded into the command center, "This better be good," she said icily.**

"**Milady, a human boy has been able to transport himself right here," Thrud told the elder goddess.**

"**I have eyes," Freya stared hard at the main viewer. "This outrage will not be taken lightly, especially in mine own realm. He is to be restrained then his memories are to be erased!"**

"**The youth has managed to overwhelm three sentries," Ere cautioned.**

**Skuld rushed out to meet her Sentaro, tears streaming down her face. She ran headlong into his arms after he managed to lower them and place the radio on the ground.**

"**Aw, don't cry Skuld, it's alright!" he consoled, trying to stem the tears himself.**

"**You dummy," she whispered, knowing that the retribution he would receive would cause her even more pain and sadness.**

"**Sentaro Kawanishi!" Freya exclaimed as if in cue. She appeared in full battle dress, thirty yards away, flanked by Thrud and another Valkyrie. "You have committed a trespass of cosmic proportions with grave ramifications!"**

"**Save it," the youth said defiantly. "I only want to be with Skuld and I'll move Heaven and Earth to do so!"**

"**Insolent cur!" Thrud drew her battle axe.**

"**Leave him alone!" Skuld stepped between them, Noble Scarlet emerging from her back, full sized.**

"**Skuld, stand down!" Freya ordered, eyes full of indignation.**

**Skuld glanced hesitantly at the Queen of Valkyries then at her beloved. She seemed very conflicted.**

"**I won't repeat myself again!" Freya warned.**

"**It's okay," Sentaro stepped in front of Skuld. "What would you do to me? Aren't you supposed to never harm humans? You're the goddess of love? Give me a break!"**

"**You are unworthy of a valkyrie!" Freya countered. "You will be judged by the Judgement Gate!"**

**Skuld gasped then Thrud and the other valkyrie caught Sentaro in a stasis field.**


End file.
